Gallifrey Falls No More
by England's Property
Summary: In honor of The Day of the Doctor this short story follows what the ninth doctor goes through in order to help save Gallifrey. It also explains the last moments of the special and how all the doctors managed to come together to save Gallifrey.


_The doctor was in his T.A.R.D.I.S. with little to no memory of the events that had just occurred. Because of what had transpired with his future selves, the doctor was not allowed to remember much of what had happened regarding the saving of Gallifrey. He would forever possess the false memory of the burning of his beloved home, and that he was the one responsible. He would be the only doctor, past or present, that would possess the regret. _

_The doctor was about to regenerate, soon to possess his tenth body. "Yes, of course. I suppose it makes sense," the doctor said as he looked to his hands. They began to emit a golden hue, having the doctor realize that he was regenerating. "Wearing a bit thin. I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous this time." The doctor then looked up with a smile upon his face. In an instant he regenerated, though he was unable to see what he looked like._

_The doctor's face became a bit more rounded, the ears staying the same. He grew a few inches in height. He then fell to the floor of the T.A.R.D.I.S., catching his breath. It felt as though he had just run a hundred miles, and then some. Slowly he stood up, gathering his thoughts. Suddenly he felt a scream come from deep within. His home planet was gone, and he was responsible. It all fell upon him. And whether or not it was the right choice, he was the one who had made it. And now he was the one who had to live with it._

_Then from behind the doctor there was a cough. "Greetings, doctor," the voice said. The doctor turned around. The man he was looking at was not familiar in the slightest. "Ah yes," the man said. He was tall, and wore a black suit with a white tie. "I remember this moment, fairly well."_

"_Who are you?" the doctor asked, reaching for his sonic only to find that it had disappeared._

_The man smirked. "I am you. The future you, that is. We have quite a bit of work to do, doctor." The doctor looked uncertain. "Don't worry about the sonic, you'll get a brand new one fairly soon."_

"_You're me?" the doctor asked doubtfully._

"_Oh yes," the future doctor replied. "Take a look at your readouts, you'll find that our T.A.R.D.I.S.' are orbiting Earth side by side."_

_The doctor did as instructed and found that his future counterpart was indeed correct. "So which one are you, then?" the doctor asked._

"_I'm the same man that you are, it doesn't matter the age or body," the twelfth doctor replied. "Just know that I am here to help you realize that Gallifrey, our home planet, is not lost. It has not burned."_

_The ninth doctor looked to his future counterpart in confusion. "That's absurd. I saw it burn, with my own eyes. Well not these eyes, but you know what I mean."_

"_Try to think, try to remember," the twelfth doctor replied. "Close your eyes."_

_The ninth doctor shook his head. "Leave, I don't know who you are but your scam won't work on me." The twelfth doctor attempted to speak but the ninth didn't leave him the chance. "You must be an alien bent on seeing my destruction. You found me at one of my weakest moments, but you have made quite the mistake. I have regenerated into a stronger man. Old, but with a younger body, a deadly combination."_

"_You're angry, and that anger is a good thing to have at this point," the twelfth doctor interjected. "The moment is coming and if we don't act soon, it will be lost forever."_

"_The moment has come and gone already," the ninth doctor said. "You don't know what you're talking about."_

_Sighing the twelfth doctor shook his head. "Your memory will be wiped again anyway, but I have no other choice." Looking to the ninth doctor, he relaxed his body and all muscles concentrating as hard as he could. Within a few short moments the ninth doctor was looking at an exact replica of himself, only in a different set of clothes._

"_What…?" was all the ninth doctor could muster._

"_In the future Time Lords perfect the regeneration process. We can choose any form, past or present, and there are no limitations. We can still die, oh yes. But once you reach your limit of regenerations, you either choose to die or you simply choose a form which pleases you the most," explained the twelfth doctor. He then reverted back to his original form._

"_What must I do?" the ninth doctor asked suddenly._

"_Your next two regenerations have taken care of most of the work, as well as your former incarnation as well," the twelfth doctor said. "You and I are to head to Gallifrey to freeze it, put it in a time lock. Instead of Gallifrey burning, it will remain safe."_

"_But how?" the ninth doctor asked._

"_You remember those stasis cubes?" the twelfth doctor said._

_A look of sudden understanding appeared upon the ninth doctor's face. "That's brilliant, that's…that's fantastic!" he said._

"_A detailed message has been sent to our past selves with the proper coordinates," the twelfth doctor said. "Which means this moment has been prepared for and ready for centuries. Tell me doctor, are you ready to save your home?"_

_The ninth doctor nodded. "Whatever it takes," he said. _

_The twelfth doctor smiled. He then went to the console of the ninth doctor's T.A.R.D.I.S. and set coordinates for the outskirts of Gallifrey. "You understand what must be done, yes?" _

"_Absolutely," the ninth doctor replied._

"_Once we are done, you will forget everything. The same applies to the others as well since the time streams are out of sync. You won't be able to retain it," the twelfth doctor explained. "You will be the doctor forged in fire, the only one of us that will never know what you've done for your home planet."_

"_It's a burden I am willing to carry," the ninth doctor said._

"_There is a slice of information you will retain, however," the twelfth doctor said. "It is vitally important and helps shape you become."_

"_What is that?" the ninth doctor asked._

"_Rose Tyler and Bad Wolf," the twelfth doctor said._

_The ninth doctor recognized those words. "I know those words," he said._

"_Indeed you do," the twelfth doctor said. "Once we put Gallifrey in a time lock, you will be sent back to Earth. I've already placed the proper coordinates in your T.A.R.D.I.S. Those words will be in the back of your mind, as they are now, and will guarantee you adventure."_

_The ninth doctor nodded. "I'm ready," he said._

"_Your TARDIS has been calculating for years and years," the twelfth doctor said quickly. "All you have to do is use the calculations and the coordinates I provided at the right moment. You'll know when." With no more words the twelfth doctor disappeared, having been nothing more than a projection from his respective T.A.R.D.I.S. The doctor pulled a lever and suddenly he zoomed out of Earth's orbit and headed trillions of light-years all the way to Gallifrey._

_As he was heading towards his home planet that he thought burned and forever gone, he saw impossible readouts on his console. At least nine other T.A.R.D.I.S.' were appearing from nowhere, suddenly. He realized that they were his past selves all coming from different time lines heading towards Gallifrey._

_The ninth doctor positioned himself on the furthest side of Gallifrey. He heard what he assumed to be his future selves talking to High Command of Gallifrey. It was at that moment that he knew what he had to do. "Gonna lump up these coordinates," the doctor said as he pulled a lever down and made to move another up. "And for my next trick!"_

_The blasts from the billions upon billions of Daleks were causing his TARDIS to rattle something fierce, but when his thirteenth form appeared in his T.A.R.D.I.S., he knew that they were close to the end._

"_Do it, doctor, just do it" a man's voice said. The doctor assumed it was the leader of High Command of Gallifrey. "Do it!"_

"_Okay," the eleventh doctor replied. "Gentlemen," he said to all his selves, past and present, "we're ready." This was it, this was the moment it all came down to. After a few encouraging words the stasis cubes were activated using all the calculations of every T.A.R.D.I.S. surrounding Gallifrey. The ninth doctor shielded his eyes as the screen he was looking at showed the blast. Suddenly his T.A.R.D.I.S zoomed off heading back towards Earth. The doctor fell to the floor, slamming his head on the dashboard then becoming unconscious._

_After what seemed hours the doctor woke up, rubbing the back of his head. He looked down and saw the items he had taken from the Sisters of Karn. He tore them off and tossed them on the floor, also finding a new shirt to wear, though he did rather like the leather jacket. After ten minutes the doctor had composed himself, not remembering much of what had just happened at Gallifrey._

_The memory the doctor possessed was watching Gallifrey fall. But he was given little time to dwell upon that. The doctor saw that he was orbiting Earth and a red alert was on his readout screen. A huge source of power was coming from London, England. Suddenly the name Rose Tyler popped into his head. Shaking that from his thoughts the doctor set his coordinates for London, England. The year he was heading towards was 2005 as that was the time the readout had given._

"_On to another adventure," the doctor said. "May it serve as a meaningful distraction." And with nothing more the doctor was heading back to Earth._


End file.
